By ATW Nutrition Coaching
EVERYONE who knows about dieting tells you chocolate won’t help you reach your goals.
But, who are we kidding? We crave it nonetheless don’t we? It’s SO GOOD!
All the head-knowledge in the world can’t stop us from having some chocolate every now and then.
And when we eat chocolate we eat ALL OF IT!
Now, I’m not here to tell you that that’s OK. I’d be lying if I said that you could eat chocolate all day every day and lose weight healthily.
But I am going to say that you CAN eat chocolate and lose weight healthily if it’s part of your nutrition PLAN.
Here’s why:
1. It’s good for your heart
Broken hearts are not the only heart issues that chocolate can help to heal.
Risk of high blood pressure, heart failure and heart attack have all been shown to be reduced with dark chocolate.
2. Wards off diabetes
Talk about irony… Chocolate helps prevent diabetes?! Yes!
A study found that people who ate small portions of dark chocolate every day for 15 days had a far lower risk of insulin resistance than those who did not eat the chocolate. The flavonoids in dark chocolate increased nitric oxide production in the body, leading to increased insulin sensitivity.
3. Stress reduction
Science has again proven something we seem to know instinctually… Chocolate is a good reliever of stress. Anxious people who ate 45g of dark chocolate every day for two weeks lowered their levels of cortisol (stress hormone) and had fewer symptoms of stress.
4. Protection from the sun
Eating chocolate high in flavonoids regularly for three months has been shown to protect the skin from burning in sunlight for twice as long as people who don’t eat chocolate.
5. It’s a great tool for learning self-discipline and changing your relationship with food
Eating a bit of chocolate every day is a great way to teach yourself a number of things that you have been brainwashed into believing about dieting.
You’ll see that chocolate is not ‘BAD’ or ‘FATTENING’ or any of those other scary words you have been led to believe.
What’s ‘bad’ or ‘fattening’ about chocolate is a lack of self-control and planning which leads to guilt and overeating. Learning the lesson that there is no BAD food is a huge step toward making your relationship with food positive and guilt-free.
You will feel free to eat the foods you love while making progress toward your health and fitness goals.